Boscolicious

Thursday, September 22, 2005

The Eagle Has Landed

Yes, I made it back in one piece. The Gods of Air Travel did their best to keep me from getting here, but I rose above it all.

I woke up this morning to a wonderful thunder and lightning show to go with the pouring rain. It just me look so forward to that walk over to the bus stop to catch the 77 down Belmont to the Blue line. After running through the rain, I got lucky enough to have a bus waiting for me and got to the airport without incident. After checking in and having a quick bagel and coffee, I settled in at the gate. I popped in a Simpsons DVD and started to kill time until about 10 minutes before we should start boarding. After packing up and getting ready to get on the plane, an announcement came to let us know that our plane has not yet arrived. This was followed by another delay due to an ill flight attendant and then the best reason for being delayed I've ever heard. It seems that maintenance was working on the plane due to a defective oven. Yup, that's right. We can't fly if we can't make cookies in the air. We finally got to Providence around 2:30 which was only 90 minutes late. They had no rental car of the type I had requested, so I am driving an ugly White Grand Prix.

On a positive note, my parents took me out for Chinese. I still haven't found a place for Chinese in my hood. After a year and a half, I just stopped looking.

Time to start going through all the crap here. Bonus for me....They never threw out my home version of Remote Control. That is most definitely coming back to Chicago!!!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

He's Got A Ticket To Ride

Well about this time tomorrow I will be touching down in Darwin's waiting room, also known as Rhode Island. Yup, it's about time I make the journey home. Being a typical Mass-hole, I am required to trash the other New England states and Rhode Islanders just make it so easy. I land in Providence around 1, pick up the rental car and motor north towards Brockton.

It's been a busy time for Bosco lately. Between bike rides, houseguests and camping trips I've barely had time to blink.

I attempted to do the Lakefront Boulevard Tour on the 11th and came so close, but yet so far. I was having a good ole time, but the bonked right around the 55th mile. Jen and I had planned on cutting the ride short anyway since the end was just the bikepath. Right around Jackson, we decided to just head east and hit the part to head home. Didn't want to miss the Viking's game after all! Well, just as we made the left onto Jackson, there was a steady stream of air hitting her leg that once was inside the tire. Yep, flat tire. We were faced with a long walk of going from Damen to State with a sick bike when Jim, the SAG guy came by and gave us a lift to State so we could jump on the Red Line. We arrived safely back at 777, showered and filled up on some pasta before planning to head out to catch a lil football. Whoops...change of plans. It seems Ravens doesn't have the game due to having an illegal cable hookup. We chose napping over watching the Bears impersonate an NFL Team.

Fast forward to Tuesday and the arrival of my good friend T from my Navy days. We've been good friends ever since those days of mischief on the USS Nimitz. We all got out and T was the one that decided to stay in. Well, the Navy is sending him home and transferring him from London to a training base right here in Illinois. I've been kind enough to open my place up to him while he found himself a house, car and taking care of those things you need to take care of when you move. He wasn't even in the city for a couple of hours and I dragged him over to the Globe for Pub Quiz and we proved that a fast start doesn't guarantee victory. On Wednesday we headed to Roselle to look at a car that seemed too good to be true. It was. A few of the defects included a window that rolled up on the outside of the door, a driver side mirror that was replaced with a piece of plastic and an engine belt that gave new meaning to the word frayed. Upon further review, he was cleaning the car over the weekend and discovered no less than 5 bullet holes in the car. The ride's got character, you can say that. Oh, the tales it could tell!

For the weekend, Jen and I got in touch with our pioneer side and did some camping with some friends. Armed only with a whole bunch of gear and 2 cases of Miller Lite, we headed to the woods courtesy of our bud B who did the driving with the assistance of GPS Lady. The details of the camping trip are classified, but suffice it to say that while playing I Never, we foound out that one of our fellow campers does own a whip and leave it at that. We headed back early on Sunday so that we could all catch our teams do battle in the trenches in NFL week 2. Unfortunately, the Pats didn't play and they showed a bunch of imposters rolling over against the Panthers. I'm still hoping for a do over. No word on that yet.

Another Pub Quizzin' last night resulted in t-shirts for all in attendance. Yay for me. Free t-shirt! That brings me to tomorrow's trip home to the house for the last time. My parents have decided to sell and go condo. No more snow shovels or lawn mowers for them. I'm heading home to see if any of the crap in the basement or garage is stuff I may actually want to keep. I'm also heading home to put a stop to the nagging. I know I'm a terrible son and grandson because I never come visit. I don't know why they don't just stamp it on my forehead and let me go about my day. Jewish guilt...there is no substitute.

Friday, September 09, 2005

One Down, 18 To Go

Football season is truly upon us as was evident last night when I pulled my Pat's jersey on and headed to Joe's to catch the season opener against the Raidahs. Now normally Joe's is a total sports bar with nothing else, but it seems that there was also a charity pig roast going on with a bunch of pretty people that did not seem to belong there. At one point some very well dressed socialite wants to chat with us about buying raffle tickets for some charity. Now, I'm all for charity, but not on 3rd and 4.

One new feature at Joes is their wireless capability. Yes, yours truly was "that guy" at the bar with his laptop. To be fair, I only brought so one my good friend L could set her fantasy lineup under the watchful eye of myself and the Rev. OK, so we fired it up at 1/2 time to check on the scores. Myself, I am getting my butt kicked due to Corey Dillon's big day, but if my fantasy team must suffer in the Pats quest for a threepeat, I'm fine with it.

I may sound old, but I remember back when a football game was on and you tuned in for a game. Now it seems likes they can't play without hours of pregame. What exactly do the Rolling Stones have to do with my Patriots? Oh well...1 and 0 and awaiting our next victim.

Next on tap is the Lakefront Boulevard Tour. Riding 62 miles at 6AM seems like a perfect way to get ready for a day of football.

Oh, I almost forgot...One of the chaps watching the game with us was not only rooting for the Raidahs, but professed to be a fan of both the Bears AND Packers. Explain to me how this is possible. It seems about the same as rooting for the Sox and Yankees or Cubs and Cardinals. This person must be destroyed before he can reproduce.